Mr Yousaf and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have warned the Dutch-owned operator could be stripped off the £6billion franchise if its performance does not improve.

He has now asked unions and opposition politicians to join talks this week aimed at meeting the SNP's manifesto commitment for a public sector body in place to bid for the ScotRail franchise when it came up for renewal, either at a contract break option after five years or when the 10-year deal ends.

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Data from ScotRail shows 86 per cent of trains were on time or less than five minutes late

Passengers are fast losing confidence in him - the clock is ticking

Neil Bibby

Abellio can also be stripped of the contract if punctuality dipped below 84.3 per cent for three consecutive months.

Terminating the contract and handing it to a public sector bidder would effectively nationalise Scotland's railways for the first time since the 1990s.

But critics said Mr Yousaf was "running out of excuses" insisted the Scottish Government had to share the blame for the crisis.

A Scottish Tory spokesman said: "The Transport Minister's first priority should be to make sure there is a significant improvement in the level of service from ScotRail.

"The Scottish Government must ensure that taxpayers don't end up paying for its failure to get a grip on this issue in the same way that rail passengers are currently bearing the brunt of the problems at ScotRail."

Scottish Labour's transport spokesman Neil Bibby added: "Instead of questioning the motivations of trade unionists working on the railways, the SNP transport minister should hold his hands up and accept responsibility for his failure to deliver a railway network that passengers in Scotland deserve.

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Mr Yousaf and Nicola Sturgeon have warned the Dutch-owned operator could be stripped off

"Passengers are fast losing confidence in him - the clock is ticking."

The deal with Abellio was unveiled in a blaze of optimism by the SNP administration last year. Passengers were promised a rail revolution with faster journeys, cheaper tickets and more seats.

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Mr Yousaf has faced calls to quit following last week's chaos

But since then it has been regularly criticised over punctuality and reliability, with a broken-down train in Edinburgh last Thursday causing widespread disruption.

Aslef, the train drivers' union, has called for Mr Yousaf to be sacked while the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) said he should "consider his position".

Latest performance data from ScotRail, shows 86 per cent of trains were on time or less than five minutes late between 16 October and 12 November.

Mr Yousaf told the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland: "Let's be clear, ScotRail's performance has been not good enough. I have told them in no uncertain terms that their performance must improve. If it doesn't improve there are some very serious consequences."

And again rejecting calls to quit he insisted: "I am on top of the job. I am listening to what passengers have to say. I am monitoring ScotRail's performance and I have demanded improvement."

He added: "My position is we are going to put together a public sector bid.

"I'm calling the unions this week, and indeed other political parties, to join with me in a discussion about how we make and put together a viable public sector bid, that will be viable, that will be competitive. That could be ready for 2020 when the break clause comes."

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Mr Yousaf has now asked unions and opposition politicians to join talks this week

A ScotRail Alliance spokeswoman said: "We are going through the biggest change and improvement in our railway infrastructure since the Victorian era..

"That upgrade to our track is being matched by what we are investing in our fleet

"There is no doubt that we need to deliver better punctuality and reliability.